As noted in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia™, the word “bullet” is often used incorrectly to refer to the combination of bullet, case, gunpowder and primer; such an item is properly called a cartridge, or round. The term “cartridge” is properly used herein to refer to the combination of bullet, case, gunpowder and primer.
Given the frequent misuse of the term “bullet”, a schematic of a cartridge is shown in prior art FIG. 15. As shown, a cartridge C typically comprises a bullet 1, a casing 2, propellant such as gunpowder 3, rim 4, and primer 5. The cartridge casing 2 defines a proximal end 10 and a distal end 15. The cartridge casing 2 has proximal and distal ends 10 and 15, respectively. The rim 4 is located at the casing's proximal end 10 proximate to an extractor groove 20. The bullet 1 is attached to the distal end 15 of cartridge casing 2. The cartridge casing 2 is typically of cylindrical appearance with the distal end 15 possibly tapering to accommodate a bullet of smaller diameter than the cartridge casing.
As noted in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20040159035, most semi-automatic and automatic weapons are provided with a removable magazine for holding a large number of cartridges. Additionally, some handguns, such as 9 mm pistols, are structured to receive a cartridge-holding magazine, often referred to as a “clip” (also referred to as a “cartridge clip”). Regardless of the particular type, make or model of the weapon, virtually all magazines are structured to function according to the same general principal of operation. Specifically, the magazine includes a generally elongate, vertical chamber with partially open ejection end at the top. Cartridges are loaded, in sequence, into the magazine and against the compression force exerted by a compression spring, so that a stacked arrangement of cartridges within the magazine is urged upwardly towards the top ejection end. When the loaded magazine is inserted into the firearm, the force of the compression spring causes the cartridges to be individually fed, one at a time in succession, into the gun's firing chamber.
As noted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,594, a substantial compression spring force must be available in a cartridge clip in order to properly move a succeeding cartridge in sequence to the magazine's ejection end after a preceding cartridge has been ejected from the magazine. When the magazine is reloaded, i.e., after all cartridges have been ejected from the magazine, the compression spring must be compressed in response to the sequential loading of each individual cartridge until the clip's maximum cartridge supply is received. The more cartridges that are put into the clip, the greater the resistance of the compression spring against further compression. The force required to load the last cartridge into the magazine is significantly greater than the force required to load the first cartridge into the magazine.
There is a continuing need for devices that facilitate gun owners in loading cartridges into gun magazines.
A review of the prior art follows.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,594 patent issued to Switzer describes a cartridge loader for a cartridge clip. The '594 loader includes a loader sleeve slidingly receivable on the magazine to compress the clip's spring in order to permit easy re-loading of the clip. A brake connected to the sleeve co-acts with the magazine's sidewall surface so as to impede the sleeve from disengagement with the magazine in the event the sleeve is inadvertently released by a user when the clip's spring is compressed and with no cartridges present in the clip. In preferred form, the brake is comprised of a brake arm that causes the sleeve to slide in a frictional braking relation with the clip's sidewall surface and that itself slides in a frictional braking relation with the clip's sidewall surface. Patent Publication No. 20040159035 describes a rapid action cartridge reloading device for use in conjunction with a firearm utilizing a removable magazine. The '035 device is described as being operable by either hand of the user with minimal effort. The '035 device includes a sleeve, defining a main body, a lever hinged to the sleeve and a cam member operatively engaged with the lever. The sleeve is structured and disposed to receive the magazine in a releasably locked and registered position for the cartridge reloading operation. The device is operated by squeezing the lever towards the sleeve body with one hand that rotates the cam member about a cam axis in a highly leveraged action. Rotation of the cam causes an integral finger extending from the cam member to engage and depress a properly positioned cartridge into the magazine. A spring urges the cam member back to the relaxed position upon each release of the lever, whereupon a next successive cartridge can be placed in registered position for loading. In several embodiments, a hood is hingedly fitted to the top end of the sleeve body and includes an axial bore, defining a loading chamber, through which the cartridges are inserted, using the other hand to guide each cartridge into the registered loading position.
In addition, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,436 patent, also to Switzer, describes a reloader for a cartridge clip that allows the reloader and clip, when assembled for reloading purposes, to be held and operated in one of a user's hands while cartridges are reloaded in the clip with the other of the user's hands. The reloader includes a sleeve adapted to receive the clip in seated relation during reloading, and a handle connected to the sleeve against which the clip lies when the clip is in operational relation with the reloader, thereby allowing the clip and reloader to be held in operational assembly with one of the user's hands. The reloader also includes a plunger that is manually reciprocable to depress a top cartridge already seated in the cartridge clip to accommodate receiving another cartridge as a successor top cartridge in the cartridge clip. An operator arm connected with the plunger is manually operable by the user's thumb on that same one of the user's hands that holds the cartridge and clip in operational assembly, thereby leaving the other of the user's hands free to reload cartridges in the cartridge clip.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,683 patent issued to Newman describes a reloader for a magazine having a generally L-shaped grip with a plurality of pairs of bores in the opposite end walls. The pairs of bores are selectively spaced so as to removably receive the pins on a plunger assembly. The magazine to be reloaded is held against the interior of the grip and the plunger may be manually depressed to depress the follower in the magazine allowing the user to insert cartridges with his or her free hand.